Thank you for your brilliant comment @skramatters

The wildly imaginative or perhaps intuitive side of me thinks maybe AI has already existed and that humans and this realm are like a zoo/museum of consciousness.

That's really interesting hypothesis. Elon Musk or some another "technological influencer" has said it is very likely that we live in a simulation. If we develop quantum computers and a strong AI, we will probably be also able to create such playground. The main question for me: is such playground morally right?

if we succeed at creating AI that can surpass us then our awareness will in a dystopian way “live” through them.

I agree, brilliantly said.